Arraez (ankle) injured in intrasquad game

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins' starting lineup won't be whole as quickly as expected.

Second baseman Luis Arraez sustained a mild left ankle sprain when he rolled the ankle during a rundown in a Monday intrasquad game at the alternate training site in St. Paul, Minn. His recovery will be delayed by several days, with no concrete timetable yet set for his ramp-up and eventual return to the team.

"We’re going to get him back on his feet in the next few days and just see how he responds," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It’s hard to give an exact timeline on him at this moment. It doesn’t seem like a major ankle sprain, but he did roll his ankle."

Arraez is in the Twins' 40-man player pool for the postseason. It remains unclear whether the 23-year-old will be healthy enough to play in the Wild Card Series.

It's a tough setback for the Twins, who appeared to be on the cusp of reassembling a healthy starting lineup for the first time since July 30 upon Arraez's recovery from the left knee tendinitis that sent him to the 10-day injured list on Sept. 11. Marwin Gonzalez has been the everyday second baseman in Arraez's absence but is hitting .209/.283/.323 this season and has slid down the lineup as a result.

It appears that Arraez will be hobbled for a second consecutive postseason. He also sustained a mild sprain of his right ankle during the final week of the 2019 regular season and was clearly limping throughout the American League Division Series matchups against the Yankees.

Arraez is hitting .288/.336/.337 this season but had hit safely in 17 of his last 20 games before landing on the IL.

Maeda appears to lead Twins' playoff rotation
Keep an eye on the Twins' starting pitchers in the next three games, because that trio will likely line up as Minnesota's rotation in the three-game Wild Card Series starting Sept. 29.

"We’re not going to start announcing everything yet, but that’s the way we’re going to do it," Baldelli said.

Though the Twins have made no official announcements, Kenta Maeda appears in line to start Game 1 of the Wild Card Series following his final regular-season appearance on Wednesday. If he does indeed start in the Sept. 29 playoff opener, he would pitch on five days' rest, as he has for all but one regular-season start.

Minnesota has not yet announced its probable pitchers for its games against the Reds on Friday and Saturday. Two pitchers among José Berríos, Rich Hill and Michael Pineda will likely start those games, and it will be completely up to Baldelli and his staff as to how they will be arranged, since all three pitchers will be fully rested in time to make Friday's start.

Friday's starter would then be lined up to pitch Game 2 of the Wild Card Series on four days' rest, and Saturday's starter would also pitch a possible Game 3 on four days' rest.

This appears to rule Jake Odorizzi out of the starting rotation for the Wild Card Series, though Baldelli indicated that the veteran right-hander will "more likely than not" be on the active roster for the series.

Colina, Duran, Kirilloff highlight postseason taxi squad
The Twins announced their 40-man player pool eligible for the postseason on Tuesday, including the 28 current members of the active roster, two players on the IL (Arraez and Odorizzi) and 10 members of the taxi squad, headlined by No. 2 prospect Alex Kirilloff and No. 5 prospect Jhoan Duran.

No. 1 prospect Royce Lewis and No. 3 prospect Trevor Larnach, who had been working out at the alternate training site this season as part of the 60-man player pool for the regular season, will not be eligible for the postseason.

Hard-throwing right-hander Edwar Colina, the No. 16 prospect in the organization, also made the cut as pitching depth. Colina is not on the Twins' 40-man roster.

Here's a full list of the 10 reserves who will be eligible for the postseason:

Pitchers (7): Colina, Randy Dobnak, Duran, Juan Minaya, Sean Poppen, Devin Smeltzer, Lewis Thorpe
Utility (1): Willians Astudillo
Infield (1): Travis Blankenhorn
Outfield (1): Kirilloff